Ceo External Review 2004

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Report to the Archdiocese of Sydneyon the Catholic Education Office,Sydney and the Sydney

Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Board

from the External Review Panel

September 2004


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Members of the External Review PanelIan Gamble, Chairman of the External Review Panel, is one ofHerMajesty's Chief Inspectors ofEducation in Scotland, with particularresponsibility for quality assurance and inspection of all 32 EducationAuthorities in Scotland. Since 2000, all Education Authorities in Scotlandhave been subject to regular external reviews. Before joining the ScottishInspectorate in 1989, Ian was Principal ofMethwold High School, Norfolk,England.Dona Stannard has been the Chief Executive of the Catholic EducationServices for England and Wales since 1999. The Catholic EducationService is the advisory body to the Bishops' Conference on all mattersaffecting Catholic education. From 1988 to 1999 Oona served as an HerMajesty's Inspector and in this capacity inspected both schools and LocalEducation Authorities.Dr Anne Benjamin joined the rapidly developing Diocese of Parramatta in1990 and was appointed Executive Director of Schools in 1997. Anne isalso a member of the Board ofTrustees for the University ofWesternSydney and a member of the Interim Committee for the NSW Institute ofTeachers. Prior to joining the Catholic Education Office, Parramatta, Annelectured in Religious Education in both Undergraduate and Postgraduateprograms, both here and overseas. Earlier, Anne taught in both Primary andSecondary schools.Professor Terry Burke was employed by the NSW Department of SchoolEducation and Training until 2000, having served as teacher, Principal,District Inspector, Deputy Director and Relieving Director-General ofEducation. In 2000, Terry was appointed Professor at the University ofWollongong. He is involved with the Educational Leadership Program inthe Faculty ofEducation.

10 External Review Panel, 2004Printed and distributed by the Catholic Education Office, Sydney38 Renwick Street, PO Box 217, Leichhardt NSW 2040, AustraliaPhone: +61 29569 6111 Fax: +61 2 9550 0052http://ceo.syd.catholic.edu.auFirst published September 2004Printed in AustraliaPublication no. 1739


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Contents

Executive SummaryThe aims, nature and scope of the ReviewThe operational context of the CEO, Sydneyand the SACS Board

Report1. Strategic Leadership and Management2. Catholic Identity and Religious Education3. Students and their Learning4. Human Resources

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5. Financial Services 316. Partnership, ConSUltation and Communication 377. Charter of the SACS Board and the CEO, Sydney 438. Key Strengths of the CEO, Sydney and the SACS Board 479. Main Points for Action 49Appendices1 Reporting of Review Outcomes 542 External Review Panel Methodology and Timetable 563 Key Documentation 594 Meetings conducted by Review Panel 61

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The Catholic Education Office (CEO), Sydney, through its highly committedstaff at all levels, adds significant value to the work of systemic schools andto the Religious Education and wider learning of young people. Theorganisation is characterised by a very strong Catholic and educationalVision and Mission. The CEO, Sydney is proudly and unapologeticallyCatholic and consistently and strongly committed to improving theopportunities for teachers and young people in its schools.The quality of leadership is of a very high order in the CEO, Sydney. TheExecutive Director of Schools provides very astute and effective leadership,which demonstrates a keen awareness of the wider context within which theCEO, Sydney operates and helps to maintain a high public profile forCatholic education. The Team of Directors works well collectively and eachmember demonstrates clear and effective leadership in his or her area ofdelegated responsibility. The senior team of the CEO, Sydney demonstrate astrong shared commitment to meeting the needs of schools and to drivingforward further improvement. These characteristics of strong leadership,commitment and teamwork are also clearly exemplified in the threeRegional Offices.There is a lively and very strong sense of Catholic identity throughout theCEO's offices and the Sydney Archdiocesan Catholic school system. Themission of the Church in education is given pride of place and the Visionand Mission of systemic schools are public and known. Significant, veryhigh-quality development has been undertaken in respect of ReligiousEducation materials and associated staff development. The writing,publication and implementation of this project is a substantial achievementfor the Archdiocese and results from student tests indicate that thedevelopment is having impact in schools. The serious commitment toongoing professional learning by Religious Education teachers is stronglycommended. The work of the CEO, Sydney-and schools is exemplified by astrong underpiuning sense of witness and pastoral care at all levels.The CEO, Sydney has developed a commendably strong framework ofstrategic planning, school evaluation and review. The procedures whichhave been established provide high levels of accountability and are wellaccepted throughout the system. Each systemic school undergoes a formalprocess of educational audit, school review and planning which leads to the

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development of a strategic plan which focuses on improvement. Theseestablished arrangements are a considerable strength to the work of the CEOand the systemic schools. Further consideration now needs to be given torefming the systems, which have been in place for some time, with a view tostreamlining the procedures and founding the audit and review arrangementson more objective criteria. Care needs to be taken that the establishedprocedures do not become ends in themselves. Particular emphasis should begiven to focusing more clearly on how school development can focus moreon bringing improved leaming outcomes for students. The CEO, Sydney isnow well placed to undertake these refinements and to develop further theculture of school improvement from an already very strong base.Each Region initiates a range of successful developments, and strong teamsof Regional Consultants and advisory staff provide schools with very goodsupport. The challenge role of these staff now needs to be further developed.The workload of these key officers needs to be kept under review to ensurethat their efforts are strongly focused on school improvement and teachingand learning. Some care needs to be taken, however, to ensure that there isappropriate sharing of best practice between the three Regions so that anydifferences do not reduce the overall corporate approach of the CEO, Sydney.The CEO, Sydney has successfully developed a number of strategies topromote more effective leadership in schools. These steps have done muchto strengthen the awareness of the importance of leadership, to build ""lJ"""across the system and to develop succession planning. Some successful ste]Jli;thave been taken to strengthen the leadership focus of Principals uponteaching and learning. However, Principals still spend considerable a r r l o u n t E ; ! ~of time on largely routine administrative tasks, and this needs to be a d l d r e : s s ( ~ . c Jif the intended focus on teaching and learning is to be increased.Students and their learning are central to the work of the CEO, Sydney,consequently there are a large number of activities designed to supportschools in their quest for quality outcomes. Of particular importance insupport has been the promotion of the concept of the Principal as e d l l c a t i o I l ~leader, the provision of a very effective network of advisory services andprovision of a comprehensive program of professional development. Aof devices has been employed to monitor the perfo=ance of students andpromote continuous improvement. There has been a steady improvementstudent results in the Basic Skills tests, English Language and LiteracyAssessment (ELLA), Secondary Numeracy Assessment Program (SNAP),


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School Certificate and Higher School Certificate Examinations.Improvements in literacy and numeracy have been based upon theimplementation of well considered and well resourced strategies, which haveincluded the setting of targets and the subsequent focusing of interventionsto meet areas of greatest need. Some support is offered to schools in all KeyLearning Areas (KLAs).There have been a number of commendable initiatives for students withdiverse learning needs; but there remains a need to increase the emphasis onlifting the performance of students who are underachieving and ensureappropriate provision for students with challenging behaviours. Support forInformation and Communication Technology (lCT) - both technologicalsupport and support for technology assisted learning - has been an area ofsome concern. Good plans are now in place to address the key issues andmuch has been achieved reCently. Overall, a great deal has been achievedby the CEO, Sydney in the area of students and their learning. A wellconsidered Archdiocesan-wide initiative to promote 'productive pedagogy'or a similar program would now link and enhance key developments.The Human Resources functions of the CEO, Sydney have been carefullyand successfully developed over a period of time to ensure that they reflectthe mission and social justice teaching of the Church. The high overallquality of the people working in the CEO, Sydney was much appreciated byall associated with the Archdiocesan community. Efforts to maintain thisquality through a number ofwell-considered initiatives were continuing tobe successful. These initiatives include a range of recruitment devices, acomprehensive professional development prograrn and a PersonnelPerformance Planning and Review (PPPR) process, all of which arepositively impacting upon the quality and motivation of staff. TheSuccession Planning Strategy, the Catholic Schools Leadership Program andthe contract renewal process are similarly impacting very effectively uponthe quality of leadership in schools.The devolution of significant authority to schools to select staff has helpedto ensure that appropriate people are selected to meet particular needs. TheHuman Resources area has established very satisfactory relations withschools and the Independent Education Union NSW/ACT (IEU) in regard toemployment and industrial matters, child protection, and workplace healthand safety. Human Resources functions have been fully integrated with the,salaries functions to maximise services to employees. Facilities at each

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Regional Office and the Central Office are of the highest order and add muchto the professional image of the CEO, Sydney.The CEO, Sydney provides good quality financial services across schools. Ina number of aspects services are very good. Prudent management andcareful resource allocation have resulted in a number of benefits to schoolsover recent years. Staffing allocations of teachers and support staff haveimproved steadily. Much has been done to plan future provision and toaddress matters of school rationalisation as necessary. Clear guidelines are inplace for financial arrangements in schools and the frequency of audit hasbeen increased, although the levels of audit compliance in some schoolsneeds to be improved. Financial procedures in the CEO, Sydney aregenerally thorough and result in some additional resources being provided forsmall schools and those with less advantaged socio-economic circumstances.There now remains a need to make aspects of resource allocations to schoolsmore transparent and more responsive to the increasing diversity of studentneeds and school contexts.The CEO, Sydney has tracked and responded well to changing populationand enrolment patterns across the system. A carefully-considered program of, 'school amalgamations and closures has been allied with siguificantlyupgraded and new provision in many schools. The CEO, Sydney iscommended for the efforts taken in school upgradings, and for theimprovements in the overall building estate. This process needs to continue, :,;"and there remains further scope for rationalisation to provide improvedlearning and working environments. Some further consideration needs to be 'given to supporting Principals with regard to buildings, propertymaintenance, and the management of building projects. Overall, the CEO,Sydney has sustained a very good record in balancing the often difficultconflicting demands for resources. The task now is to build on these


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evident in the standing ofCatholic schools and the conditions which havebeen negotiated for them.Whilst stakeholders are generally very well satisfied with the flow ofinformation to them, some seek a more active partnership in consultation.There has been extensive surveying of opinions and people have welcomedreceiving information; but parents, in particular, seek to be able to engageand be involved more effectively.The Sydney Archdiocesan Catholic Schools (SACS) Board is a significantand prestigious body within the governance and administration of Catholicschools in the Archdiocese of Sydney. The CEO's Directors and staffprovide highly-regarded service to the Board and Committees through thepreparation and presentation of highly-professional Board documentation.Their contribution to informed Board discussions are valued. Strongsentiments of respect and appreciation were also expressed for the work ofthe long-term (and recently retired) Chairman of the SACS Board.It is now timely to review the structure and operation of the SACS Boardand to revise its Charter as necessary. The Panel recommends that thereview would include, at least, considerations of the SACS Board andCommittees with respect to: role and function, including the relationship with Congregational schools; membership, including the balance between the CEO, Sydney officers

and external stakeholders; the Board's Committees; and operation and culture of the Board, including consideration ofways to

enhance a culture of engagement with strategic educational issues and toimprove the Board's effectiveness.The Panel congratulates the CEO, Sydney on the quality of Boarddocumentation and welcomes the stated intention to proceed with a reviewof the SACS Board at this time.Overall the CEO, Sydney is a highly effective and well-led organisation,characterised by the high commitment of staff at all levels. Its strongCatholic and educational mission adds significantly to the work of systemicschools and to the educational experiences and learning of young people.Commendably, the CEO, Sydney has a particularly strong commitment to

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The External Review 2004 was a key part of the accountability proceduresset in place by the CEO, Sydney and the SACS Board. A framework for thisReview was adopted by the SACS Board in 2003 and endorsed by theArchbishop of Sydney, who accepted the advice of the SACS Board thatfour educators, external to the Archdiocese, be invited to carry out theReview. All four accepted the invitation and in January 2004 the brief forthe Review (Bulletin 69) was signed offby the Chairman of the ReviewPaneL Bulletin 69' was distributed to schools and other stakeholders andarrangements made with four external researchers to gather data fromPrincipals, clergy, leaders of Religious Congregations and CEO, Sydneystaff. Data gathered from a doctoral research dissertation was also availableto the PaneLThe Panel spent ten days in July 2004 visiting schools, meeting Principalsand other stakeholders and meeting the Directors and staff of the CEO,Sydney at the Central Office and the three Regional Offices. The Panel alsomet the Chairman and members of the SACS Board. A summary of theReview activities is given at Appendix 2.The External Review 2004 therefore formed a key part of the accountabilityprocedures for the CEO, Sydney and the SACS Board. The Review sitswithin the regular cycle of self-review and external scrutiny set up by theCEO, Sydney as part of its ongoing quality improvement procedures.Review FrameworkThe Review encompassed the major structural aspects of the system ofschools within the CEO, Sydney and the operations of the Central Office(Leichhardt) and the three Regions (Eastern, Inner Western and Southern).The focus of the Review was on the appropriateness, quality andeffectiveness of services to the system of schools, informed by the Visionand Mission Statements and arising specifically from the planning, policiesand related strategies and actions.The framework for the 2004 Review had the following key characteristics.The Review Panel: comprised persons external to the CEO, Sydney and sought to provide

validation of the annual self-reviews and the 2004 self-evaluationdocument prepared by the CEO's Team ofDirectors;,2. External Review of he Catholic Education Office and the Sydney Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Board, (Bulletin 69), February

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considered the self-review and evaluation process based on the annualArchdiocesan Schools Agenda and the Annual Team Achievement Plans inthe context of 'Towards 2005';

had full access to extensive documentation for the period 1996-2004; considered an extensive profile of the Sydney Archdiocesan school

system, including key policy papers; based its evaluations on the scales outlined in Appendix 1 - the same scale

as used by the CEO, Sydney in its self-evaluation - and scrutinised the CEO, Sydney's Annual Report 2003 as a key primary self

evaluation document.As a result of the 2004 External Review, the CEO, Sydney undertook toprepare an Action Plan to respond to the main recommendations. It isanticipated that this process will lead to the development of a new StrategicManagement Plan for the Sydney Archdiocesan school system for the period2006-2010.The broad structure of the External Review 2004 was an adaptation of thatcontained in the 'Resource Manual for School Review and Development1999-2003' (CEO, Sydney 1999) and also used key aspects of currentapproaches of the Review ofLocal Education Authorities (LEAs) in Englandand Scotland. The key question to be addressed by the Review Panel was:What difference does the CEO, Sydney make to quality of Catholiceducation? What is the evidence?Related to this overall question the Panel also considered: /i How rigorous and effective is the CEO, Sydney's monitoring o f : ' ; ~

- school 'action plans' , following a formal review process undertaken Y ' ! ~the school and by the CEO, S y d n e Y ? J i ~

- recommendations to Principals following the contract renewal p r o c e s s 0 ~ 1individual school performance against national, State and Archdiocesaltbenchmarks? 'I

What is the contribution of the CEO, Sydney to raising standards and ' ; , ~ ~strengthening the schools as instruments of evangelisation, and how is t h i K i ~contribution ~ a ~ u r e d a ~ d evaluated? How responsive is the CEO, . j , t ~Sydney m provldmg assistance for those schools most m need? . < f . ~ f ! i l" "",,,,';1}fJ~


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A number of further contributory questions were also identified for theattention of the Review Panel: Is the work of CEO staff members clearly focused on the quality ofteaching and learning in classrooms? Is the CEO, Sydney providing religious leadership? Is the modus operandi of the CEO, Sydney in harmony with the missionto evangelise? Is there evidence in the CEO'S planning of clarity, consistency, coherenceand feasibility as well as responsiveness to unanticipated issues? What steps are being taken to make sure that teachers are competent toteach the Archdiocesan Religious Education Program? What evidence is there tha,t the teaching of Religious Education is being

done well? To what extent is the CEO, Sydney promoting self-evaluation to develop

the capabilities of schools to look at themselves in a constructivelycritical way?

What strategies are in place to assist schools with target setting and theachievement of national literacy and numeracy benchmarks?

How effective is the CEO, Sydney's strategy for assisting schools withself-evaluation, the collection and analysis of test and other data, and thetargeting of students with'special assistance?

How flexible and adaptable is resource allocation to meet these needs?To what extent do poorly performing schools receive a higher level ofsupport and intervention?

To what extent is the CEO, Sydney ensuring that schools are effectivelyutilising technology to track student performance from year to year andfrom school to school?

Are the needs of students always placed above those of school and theCEO, Sydney staff?

The Review Panel also sought to assess other services provided by the CEO,Sydney, which included the range of services listed in the 'Guide toEducational Services 2004'. The Panel also considered papers of the SACSBoard and its four Committees, the CEO, Sydney and its variousCommittees (both Regional and Central), and documents relating to the

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provision ofprofessional development as well as meetings with Principals.The Panel had a range of survey data to inform its evaluations, including thedata-gathering exercise in the Learning Organisation Questionnaireadministered by Mark Turkington' to all Principals of Sydney Catholicsystemic schools and a number of senior CEO, Sydney personnel in March2003. With a high response rate from respondents (90.6%) this report soughtto identify what school Principals saw as the key strengths and weaknesses ofthe support they received from the CEO, Sydney across a number of areas.Extensive data analysis was also collected for the Panel through a range offurther questionnaires: Principals: Survey of Opinion (June 2004)4 CEO Staff: Survey of Opinion (Jnne 2004)5 Leaders ofReligious Institutes: Survey of Opinion (June 2004)6 Clergy: Survey ofOpinion (June 2004)7CriteriaSome key benchmark criteria were identified for the Review Panel to judgethe performance of the CEO, Sydney. These key criteria included the extentto which there was: a clearly defined, contemporary Vision and Mission; a clearly defined medium-term strategy which set out priorities; clearly defined actions in support of these priorities, with targets set in

appropriate areas;,-,

equitable and transparent resource distribution related to these priorities;and "-.-" , a focus on the needs and priorities of students and school communities as .jthe basis of the CEO's intervention in s c h o o l s . ; ~

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evaluation the Review Panel gave values for achievement alongside theCEO, Sydney's self-evaluation of these criteria. The complete list ofevaluation criteria and the values of the CEO's self-evaluation and those ofthe Review Panel is provided at Appendix 1.MethodologyThe methodology and timetable for the Review are set out in Appendix 2.The Panel considered a range of internal self-evaluation documentation,profiles, reports, data on student performance, survey questionnaires fromPrincipals, Clergy (Deans only) and Leaders ofReligious Institutes. Inaddition, the Panel undertook a range of meetings with CEO, Sydneypersonnel in the Central and Regional offices. The Panel considered apresentation by the Executive Director of Schools for the CEO, Sydneytogether with his senior colleagues. A list of the main documentationconsidered by the Panel is set out in Appendix 3. The list of the meetingsand visits undertaken by the Panel is set out in Appendix 4.

The operational context of the CEO, Sydneyand the SACS BoardThe boundaries of the Archdiocese of Sydney were adjusted in 1986 whenthe new Dioceses of Parramatia and Broken Bay were established. Currentlyin the Archdiocese there are 148 Parish Primary and Regional Secondarysystemic Catholic schools, educating about 62,000 students, and 20 schoolsowned and operated by Religious Institutes with an enrolment of about 17,000.The Archdiocese is now characterised by an area of relatively stable schoolage popUlation. The growth in the south-west is balanced by declines inparts of the eastern and inner western suburbs of Sydney. The overallproportion ofCatholics in the population of Sydney is currently about 30%,and 21.5% of 4-18 year-olds attend Catholic schools.The CEO, Sydney is responsible for the leadership, development, supportand supervision of a network of 148 Parish Primary and Regional Secondaryschools (known as the system of schools) in the Archdiocese of Sydney.The system employs a combined staff of 8,800 and has an annual budget ofover $400 million. It is the second largest non-government educationsystem in Australia, and is the approved authority for Sydney Catholicschools under the NSW Education'Act (1990) Part 7: 39-40.

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Under the Act, the CEO, Sydney monitors compliance with requirements forRegistration and Accreditation using the 'NSW Board of Studies' Manual forNon-Government Schools'. Systemic schools are registered and accredited,for a period of five years, by the NSW Minister for Education and Training atthe request of the CEO, Sydney.The CEO, Sydney's 'Resources Manual for School Review andDevelopment', which includes the process for Educational Audit, providespractical support for the implementation of strategic leadership andmanagement processes. This manual includes a set of process notes,templates and other resources for each of the linked processes of SchoolReview and Development (SRD) and the Annual Implementation Cycle.The Catholic systemic schools are all comprehensive and are representativeof the Socio-Economic Status (SES) range for Sydney: 86% of the studentenrolment is Catholic, with about 52% of students from Non EnglishSpeaking Backgrounds (NESB), and 4.2% are classified as Students WithDisabilities (SWD).The Executive Director of Schools is the employer of all staff in systemicschools and is accountable to the Archbishop of Sydney and the Chairman ofthe SACS Board.The SACS Board was established by the Archbishop of Sydney to advise andassist him on educational matters pertaining to all Catholic schools in theArchdiocese, whether those schools were the direct responsibility of theArchdiocese or operated by Religious Institutes. The Board was set up toprovide, on behalfof the Archbishop, leadership and overall direction for .Catholic schools in the Archdiocese ofSydney so as to ensure the existenceof an 'effective system of education at all levels which contributes to the totaleducational needs of young people in Catholic schools'.8The SACS Board is required to observe all policies determined by the

'1Archbishop and is empowered to formulate any other such policies necessaryto carry out its responsibility. It is mandated to devise whatever procedures .'are required to maintain the overall direction of the system. The Chairmanothe SACS Board is responsible for the leadership and operation of the Board)!and reports regularly to the Archbishop. . " c ' . ~8 Th e Calholic School, Rome , 1977 , p 9.

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The Executive Director of Schools serves as the Executive Officer of theBoard. He is charged with the implementation and management of Boardpolicies and procedures, and is responsible to the Board for the quality ofthat implementation. The Executive Director is assisted in this task by theDirector of Religious Education and Curriculum, the Director of HumanResources, the Director of Financial Services and three Regional Directors.The SACS Board accounts for its responsibility to the Archbishop, thevarious funding bodies and the community as a whole.The leadership and overall direction provided by the SACS Board is carriedthrough to the schools and the wider community by its administrative arm,the CEO, Sydney. The role of the CEO is to provide leadership and serviceto Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Sydney, thereby seeking toenhance the quality of the education of the students enrolled in Catholicschools. In discharging this mandate from the Board the CEO, through theExecutive Director of Schools, accepts the delegated authority andresponsibility appropriate for the implementation and management ofBoardpolicies and priorities. The full terms and powers of the Board and the specificfunctions of the CEO, Sydney are set out in the document 'Role, Functionsand Charter of the Sydney Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Board and theCatholic Education Office Sydney', published in 1989 and revised in 1995.Board of StudiesCatholic schools use the syllabuses published by the NSW Board of Studiesand students are presented for the School Certificate (Year 10) and the HigherSchool Certificate (Year 12). The Board of Studies monitors the processesused by the CEO, Sydney in relation to Registration and Accreditation.Income from State and CommonwealthIncome from State and Commonwealth government grants, and tuition feesfrom parents, are paid into a single Archdiocesan school account from whichall teachers and support staff salaries are paid. The official staffing level foreach school is established by the CEO, Sydney when the enrolments areknown. Principals have the delegated responsibility to engage staff.The SACS Board publishes the tuition fee schedule and guidelines forschool building levies. Loans for approved building projects are taken outthrough the (Archdiocesan) Catho,lic Development Fund. Loan repaymentsare the responsibility of the local school and parish.

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The three Regional Offices are well led, operate efficiently and demonstratevery good levels of teamwork amongst those who work in them. EachRegion can point to a number of areas and educational initiatives where ithas been innovative and successful. Regional Directors have high levels ofdelegated responsibility and autonomy, but discuss developmentscollectively at ToD meetings and undertake their responsibilities very well.Care needs to be taken that suitable regional initiatives are developed intoArchdiocesan policies whenever this is appropriate and that regionaldifferences of approach do not multiply to the detriment of the corporateapproach of the CEO, Sydoey.Within the three Regional Offices the key leadership and managementinterface between the CEO, Sydney and the systemic schools rests with ateam of Regional Consultants and Adyisers. There are twelve RegionalConsultants overall. One Secondary and three Primary Consultants operatefrom each of the three Regional Offices and provide advice, support andchallenge to Principals in school planning and improvement as well as awide range of input on day-to-day matters of school operations. Theseofficers are highly committed and demonstrate a very good knowledge ofthe schools in their Region. However, the workloads of these RegionalConsultants is considerable, expanding and not always evenly distributed.There is, therefore, a risk that the CEO, Sydney's key aim that RegionalConsultants' work should focus primarily on assisting improvements inschools and teaching and learning to the benefit of students could not atpresent be consistently met due to the many administrative tasks competing 'for their time. It is recommended that the current demands on RegionalConsultants should be reviewed, with a view to strengthening their focus onschool improvement and teaching and learning. The challenge role ofConsultants needs to be developed further alongside their already stronglyestablished support functions.A team ofAdvisers is attached to each of the Regional Offices and provides . :impressive support to Principals, Curriculum Co-ordinators and t eachers , . .across a wide range of curricular and specialist areas, both within s c h o o l sand through the provision of professional development courses to teachers.; .j: ;;Advisers consistently demonstrate strong levels of commitment to their o r ~ ~ land to the i ~ p l e m e n t a t i o n of the variou.s initiatives w h ~ c h they are h e l p i n g \ ~ uto develop I I I schools. Overall, the adVISOry team provIdes a strong resource;.;)for schools to call upon to assist improvement. Although Advisers generally.!tlliaise widely with other colleagues their work is, for the most part, focused ,i.it.

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within their own Region, to which many demonstrate a strong sense ofloyalty. Consideration should now be given to developing more strategies forcross-regional working to share specialist adviser expertise and identifY bestpractice in schools more widely and consistently across the Archdiocese.Over the past 15 years the CEO, Sydney has taken clear steps to develop acycle of school review and evaluation. The approach has been innovativeand systematic, and has taken close account of international comparators.Procedures are based upon systematic self-evaluation and external audit andreview by teams throughout the CEO, Sydney and its systemic schools. Theoverall framework for strategic leadership and management also includeswell-established procedures for the development of Strategic ManagementPlans, Annual School Development Plans and Annual Reports to parents andthe wider community. In addition, more recently a performance managementscheme (PPPR) has been introduced for the CEO officers, administrativestaff, Principals and teachers from systemic schools. Overall, thesedevelopments provide a strong culture of accountability and improvementacross the CEO's offices and in systemic schools. It is considerably to thecredit ofthe CEO, Sydney that its strategic Vision of development of theservice has included a long-term commitment to school improvement, to theprocedures of self-evaluation and external audit, and to clear arrangementsfor strategic leadership and management development.Each systemic school undergoes a formal process of Educational Audit,school review, and planning which leads to the development and publicationof the school's Strategic Plan. These audit, review and planning proceduresare generally well regarded at all levels within the system. Principals ofPrimary and Secondary schools responding to the surveys acknowledge thatthe arrangements which have been put in place provide a strong frameworkfor school development, accountability and improvement. A clear cycle ofschool planning and review has been established and reinforced over theyears. The procedure starts with a review of the school's previous StrategicManagement Plan. An Educational Audit Team involving RegionalConsultants, the Principal and a number of external nominees is establishedat each school to begin work upon completion of the internal school reviewof the previous plan. The audit team visiting the school reports on theprogress with implementation of the recommendations of the previous report,on the school's own self-review document, and on aspects of compliancewith the NSW Education Act (1990). In turn, the audit report contains a,number of specific recommendations for improved school effectiveness, and

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is shared with the wider school community. Generally, these audit andreview arrangements are a considerable strength of the school improvementprocedures within the CEO, Sydney, and have gained wide acceptanceamong Principals and school staff in both Primary and Secondary sectors.The Principal has oversight of the school review process, which includesextensive consultation with staff, parents, clergy and students.Recommendations arising from the process of audit and review areincorporated into the school's next 5-year Strategic Management Plan andprogress in overtaking these recommendations is managed by the Principaland monitored by the Regional Consultant. The school's 5-year StrategicManagement Plan includes its Mission Statement, response torecommendations in the external audit team report, areas for developmentand improvement, and associated goals and outcomes. Overall, thisprocedure works well throughout systemic schools and ensures that theyaddress a number of key priorities across the Archdiocese in addition tothose specific to the school itself. In recent times school StrategicManagement Plans have given particular attention to the religious andspiritual dimension, curriculum development and teaching practice, students'learning, progress and attainment, pastoral care, parents and the widercommunity, facilities, and resources and budgeting.Each systemic school also develops and publishes an Annual SchoolDevelopment Plan, which identifies goals selected from the school's 5-yearStrategic Management Plan. School Annual Development Plans clearlyidentify those staff who are responsible for the implementation ofvariousstrategies. There is, however, less explicit focus on how the variousdevelopments are likely to benefit students' learning and how success willbe measured. The Panel strongly recommends that plans should focus morespecifically on how any intended developments will impact on students'learning. The school's progress with the implementation of the AnnualDevelopment Plan becomes a focus for the ongoing monitoring role of theRegional Consultant. The Annual Development Plan is published and madeavailable to the wider school community.These well-established arrangements for school review and development, ;planning provide a clear focus for school improvement across the CEO and,!the systemic schools. Further consideration requires to be given to refining ,;

, the systems, which have now been in place for some time. In particular, itrecommended that the school review procedures should be more firmly


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based upon agreed criteria and quality indicators so as to promote greaterconsistency and limit the scope for subjectivity. Consideration should also begiven to streamlining the audit and review arrangements and increasing theirfocus upon outcomes for students. There would also be considerable merit inbringing the audit and review procedures more closely together as oneprocess.Significant effort is made across the system in the construction and use ofschools' Annual Development Plans. However, there remains too muchvariation across the 148 schools in the nature and presentation ofAnnualDevelopment Plans and the extent to which they clearly identify impact onstudents' learning rather than developmental procedures. Current plans tendto emphasise developmental activities which teachers will undertake, ratherthan the benefits which will accrue to students' learning. Further refinementand streamlining of the development planning process should focus uponidentifying more clearly the expected benefits for students' learning, which itis anticipated that development projects in schools will secure.Commendably, all systemic schools now provide an Annual Report to parentsand the wider school community on progress with the Annual DevelopmentPlan, overall school performance, initiatives, developments andachievements. These reports are increasingly being written to a commonpattern across the system. The Panel recommends that further considerationshould be given to the purpose and intended audience for these reports,including how parents may be best assisted in making full use of theinformation provided. Whilst retaining a focus on the key information,which should be consistently provided to parents across systemic schools, itis recommended that sufficient scope should be retained for schools toinclude some further information which they consider relevant to their ownparent and community audiences and contexts. School Annual Reports to thewider community should also be more consistently validated by RegionalOffices before publication.The strategic leadership and management cycle, which has been developedby the CEO, Sydney over the past 15 years, now provides a strong basis uponwhich to further develop the culture of school improvement. The wideacceptance of the framework is a marked strength of the work of the CEO,Sydney and provides a measure of consistency of engagement between theCEO and the systemic schools across all three Regions. It focuses the workof Regional Consultants, Principals, 'Advisers and school staff towards

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identified and agreed priorities. The arrangements enjoy a high measure ofsupport among Principals and among school staff. Over 96% of Principalsresponding to recent surveys agreed that they had a clear understanding ofthe Strategic Leadership and Management Framework and processes, andthat this framework contributed strongly towards assisting schools toimprove the quality of teaching and learning. Care needs to be taken toensure that the framework established and its associated procedures do notbecome ends in themselves. The framework should be based more clearlyon agreed quality indicators and criteria, which form a shared basis forconsistent evaluations both within schools and from external reviewers. Itis, therefore, recommended that the external audit, school review and schooldevelopment planning procedures should now be more streamlined anddirectly focused on the anticipated improvements which are envisaged forstudents' learning. Development tasks within each school's AnnualDevelopment Plan should have more specific and measurable criteriashowing how improved outcomes for students might be identified.The CEO, Sydney has successfully developed a number of strategies topromote more effective leadership in schools. There has been a keen andlong-standing awareness, from the Executive Director of Schools to schoollevel, of the need to promote and develop leadership capacity and succession',within the system. Taken together, the initiatives by the CEO, Sydney topromote leadership development and succession have done much tostrengthen the awareness of the importance of leadership and to buildcapacity across the system. The leadership and management cycle istherefore well supported by the Catholic Schools Leadership Framework(CSLP) which consists of six foundation dimensions ofleadership: religious;leadership for learning, strategic, human resources, organisational andpersonal. In 2001, the CEO, Sydney published the 'Catholic SchoolsLeadership Framework: Core Competencies and Key Elements'9 documentwhich provided a comprehensive analysis of core competencies associatedwith effective leadership in Catholic schools. A number ofwell-regardedleadership development programs for Principals, Assistant Principals andmiddle managers are provided regularly and relate directly to the LeadershipFramework which has been established. These professional leadership c o u r s ~ sare very well supported fmancially and have a high profile across systemic.schools.Some successful steps have been taken by the CEO, Sydney to strengthen9 Catholic Schools Leadership Framework: Core Competencies and Key Elements, CEO. Sydney, April 2001.


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the leadership focus of Principals upon teaching and learning. Although theCEO clearly intends that Principals should focus their activities upon the coreteaching and learning processes in school, there remains considerableevidence that Principals continue to need to devote considerable amounts oftheir time to other administrative and management tasks. Whilst a number ofthese tasks are clearly important, some are very routine. Care needs to betaken to ensure that systems are sufficiently robust and effective to enablePrincipals to undertake management tasks without undue bureaucraticburden. It is recommended that further steps should be taken to refocus theleadership activities ofPrincipals more closely upon key strategies toimprove the quality of teaching and learning in their schools and on thegeneral improvement of student achievement. The Panel recommends that apolicy group, including Principals from both the Primary and Secondarysectors, should be set up to explore how the future development of leadershipwithin the CEO, Sydney arid systemic schools can focus more directly andconsistently on teaching and learning, and how a complementary reduction inthe amount of time spent upon administrative duties can be achieved. Thecore leadership of Principals on teaching and learning would benefit from theexploration of wider and innovative support strategies to assist with businessmanagement on their school sites.Overall, CEO, Sydney officers, Principals and school staff are stronglycommitted to the Strategic Leadership and Management Framework. TheCEO should be commended for the achievement of establishing a StrategicLeadership and Management Framework to which so many of its officers,Principals and staff in schools subscribe. This framework has done much tostrengthen accountability and to promote school improvement through the

. procedures of school audits, reviews, and strategic and annual developmentplanning. The overall quality ofleadership and management establishedacross the organisation has been recognised by the achievement of anAustralian Business Excellence Award. The task of the CEO, Sydney now isto build upon these strong leadership and management foundations to enablethe framework established to be streamlined and more explicitly focused onimproving the intended outcomes for learners.

Catholic Identity and Religious EducationThe CEO, Sydney is proudly and unapologetically Catholic. There is avibrant and very strong sense of Catholic identity throughout the Sydney

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Archdiocesan Catholic school system, which is easily evidenced across theCentral Office, the Regional Offices and the schools which the Panel visited.The physical environment of offices and schools is characterised by anordered, welcoming ambiance with religious symbols, religious art andimages of children, teachers and schools. The tradition and history ofCatholic education in Sydney is likewise honoured in the decor of theCentral and Regional Offices. I t is evident that prayer is a regular part ofthe program in the Central and Regional Offices, with attention being givento careful and imaginative preparation ofprayer with staff.This provides the context in which the Mission of the Church in education isgiven pride of place in the planning and rhetoric of the whole system. TheVision and Mission of Sydney systemic Catholic schools are public and wellintegrated into policies affecting all aspects of the organisation's operationand in the large range ofCEO and SACS Board publications. Responsesfrom the surveys ofpriests, Principals, Congregational leaders, the CEOstaff and their self-evaluation clearly emphasise the high priority given tothe Catholic identity of schools. In the survey completed by 89.2% ofPrincipals for this Review, Principals ranked 'Catholic Identity and Culture'and 'Implementation of the Religious Education curriculum' as their topmost positive responses. These are, not surprisingly, named as top prioritiesin school Strategic Plans and Annual Reports, which highlight theimportance of the Catholic Mission. A 2003 stndy showed that in thestrategic planning cycle, Religious Education and faith development ofstndents was a priority for all staff. 10The language of the school and office personnel interviewed during theReview reflected an inspiring ethos of service and of care for stndents andfor staff colleagues as part of a faith priority. This was particularly evi.dellt:in Principals' statements of concern for stndents with special needs and, asparticular example, the needs of refugee children.The commitment of resources to support the Catholic identity and ethos ofschools is highly commendable. The CEO, Sydney has developed ext,ens.iY!resources and programs which are devoted to supporting leaders and toaddressing the needs of leadership succession. Of special note is theCatholic Schools Leadership Program. The establishment of a fivle-IIlemlb(jrSpiritnality Team in 2002 is a serious commitment to promoting the Camo.ll'ethos of the system into the futnre. Some of the discourse among senior10. Turkington, Dr M, op cit, pp 149-150.


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CEO staff recognises the challenges ofworking with teachers who are part ofa social context very different from that of previous decades. The SpiritualityTeam works to meet this contemporary, often quite secular, context, withflexibility and creativity. Such discourse recognises the considerabledevelopment by lay Principals of a culture in their schools which honours thecharism of founding Principals who have often been members of ReligiousCongregations. As the CEO, Sydney faces the coming five years, support forthe spiritual development of teachers and support staff presently in Catholicschools will appropriately seek out new pathways which build on thesetraditions in a ways which are faithful to the mission of lay people within thecontemporary society and church. The Panel congratulates the CEO, Sydneyon the number of opportunities which are created for retreats and reflectiondays for staff, either in the CEO, Sydney or in specialist roles.Survey responses from pastors indicated some unease with their role inSecondary schools and with the religious character of Secondary schools.This is not a new concern, having been raised in the previous Review in1994, and is not unique to the CEO, Sydney. This reflects, in part, one of themost significant challenges for contemporary religious education - namelythe decline in regular religious observance generally in the community. Thestudents, families and staff in Catholic schools are immersed in this sameenviroument, even though there are indicators, such as in recent Church LifeSurveys, that their observance is above the norm. Principals in Secondaryschools strive to promote and develop the ethos of their schools with adiverse teaching faculty. Their students are contemporary adolescents, who,as part of their own healthy development, are quite often in the throes of'testing' the ideas, beliefs and values of their elders in order to develop theirown adult set of integrated set of values. The persistent invitation to staff inSydney Catholic schools to engage in spiritual formation and theologicaldevelopment must be commended and encouraged in this context. The CEO,Sydney may also wish to give consideration to inviting parents to join staff inthese programs, when appropriate, in order to capitalise on schools beingtruly 'ecc1esial connnunities', and to maximise the potential for impacting onstudents' Religious Education.A number of commendable initiatives have been undertaken involvingpastoral ministry and youth ministry. The Panel commends the CEO'ssupport and liaison with such groups and suggests that they might offer avehicle to further explore creative endeavours in linking young people morewith parish. Pastors and Principals' also have both commented positively on

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the current explorations with 'Advisory Councils' or 'Forums' of Pastors andPrincipals across Primary and Secondary schools. The Panel notes that it isnot always assumed that parents are members of such councils, anassumption which needs to be critiqued. These emerging AdvisoryCouncils, which bring together priests, parents, Principals and potentiallystudents in localised clusters, are useful forums in which to explore creativeresponses to the pastoral realities of young people.Some further work is required to strengthen partnerships withCongregational schools. Positive steps have already been taken. In recentyears Principals of Congregational schools have responded increasingly toinvitations to be part of a total Archdiocesan network of schools. Many nowattend Regional Principals' meetings, conferences and social gatherings.Considerable use is made of the professional development programssponsored by the CEO, Sydney, and some Congregational schools haveinvolved the CEO staff in School Review and Development processes. Byand large, with a few exceptions, Congregational schools responded to theArchbishop of Sydney's expectation that they adopt the new ReligiousEducation Curriculum, and so there has been an increased participation inin-service and functions relating to the introduction of the new ReligiousEducation texts.Large public ritual events playa powerful role in both celebrating andstrengthening the ethos and sense of shared identity for those in Catholicschools. Notable, in recent years, have been the launch of the VisionStatement at Darling Harbour in 1995, the Jubilee celebrations at theOlympic Stadium in 2000, and the launch of the Religious EducationCurriculum at St Mary's Cathedral in 2003. All of these very high-profileevents, involving large numbers of the schools' population, have beenpowerful celebrations of the identity and culture of Catholic education. Agroup of parents expressed strong appreciation for these public functions,especially the Archdiocesan Confirmation in 2000 and the launch of theReligious Education Curriculum, as powerful witness to the Catholicidentity of schools within the Church's life.The annual Excellence Awards presented to select students each year byCardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, also emphasise a faith andreligious element. It is pleasing to note that students from CongregationalCatholic schools in Sydney are also included in these ExcellenceAwards andother celebrations.


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A significant project which has been implemented over a number of yearsstrives to integrate values across the whole curriculum. The'Sense of theSacred' project is in its second cycle. It is planned to refine the document,integrate ICT into it, in keeping with all the curriculum, and to exploremethodologies for classroom use. This project is another very good exampleof the total commitment to Catholic identity within the Archdiocesan schoolsystem.The Religious Art Exhibition for Secondary students has been held fourtimes. The panel congratulates the CEO for this initiative, which is just onemore way of enabling students and their Art teachers to explore humanexperience creatively and in a spiritual medium.At the heart of the Catholic school endeavour is the formal ReligiousEducation curriculum. The Religious Education curriculum developed andimplemented in the Archdiocese of Sydney in previous years includes bothPrimary and Secondary schooling. There is clear evidence that there hasbeen ongoing review and development ofReligious Education materials inthe CEO, Sydney, culminating in the launch of the revised Years 3-10Religious Education curriculum and the associated student textbooks, 'ToKnow, Worship and Love'. The Religious Education curriculum is derivedfrom the previous documents, 'Celebrating Our Journey' (Primary) and'Faithful to God: Faithful to People' (Secondary). The Religious Educationtextbooks have been developed to be the key student resource for theReligious Education curricuhim. Principals and Regional Office staff arevery clear about the priority given to the introduction of the revisedcurriculum and new student textbooks. It is the intention that studentmaterials will be taken home and offer an additional evangelising purposewith parents as well as with students.The rewriting, publication and implementation of this Religious Educationproject is a most substantial achievement for the Archdiocese. The revisionand rewriting of the curriculum has involved collaboration with theArchdiocese ofMelbourne, from where the student textbooks originated, andthe dioceses ofArmidale, Lismore and Wollongong. The project hasinvolved members of the Religious Education and Curriculum team,Advisers, Religious Education Co-ordinators and classroom teachers. The inservice for priests and school staff has been thorough and has earned praisefrom those involved. While it was reported that some priests were notalways familiar with the current Religi'ous Education books and curriculum,

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it appears that priests who attended the in-service valued it. The onlineavailability of the curriculum and resource material for Religious Educatic(Religious Education Online) is highly valued. Conversations with a limit(number of classroom teachers, as well as Principals and Regional Officestaff, indicate that teachers are working with the new curriculum withincreasing confidence.However, the Panel notes that there is a statistically significant differencethe perceptions ofPrimary and Secondary Principals on the 'implementatiofReligious Education curriculum' and 'implementation of studenttextbooks'. It would be useful for the relevant staff to be mindful of this fto explore the reasons why the Primary Principals rated these less positivethan Secondary Principals. The Religious Education curriculum for YearsK-2 is currently under review.It is unclear what explicit work has been done with parents around theReligious Education curriculum, or what feedback has been sought fromthem about its impact on their children's learning. This could be an area ffurther consideration. It is interesting to note that in a 1999 survey of 'Wlparents expect of a Catholic school', 80% of respondents (a massive 21 ,O(requested more information about what is taught.Staff in the CEO, Sydney and schools should draw great encouragementfrom the responses to the clergy survey which indicated overall satisfactiowith the work ofReligious Education in schools, although there was aversmall sample of clergy surveyed in this review (14 compared with 65 in tt1994 Review). The initiative in the Iuner Western Region to convene ameeting of pastors, Principals and RECs each year is very laudable. It isunclear to the Panel why such a worthwhile initiative is not an Archdiocespriority for all three Regions, and the Panel would recommend consideratiof further exploring the potential of such a meeting.Since 1998, the CEO, Sydney has developed a test in Religious Educationfor Year 6 students to monitor the students' outcomes in religiousknowledge. The test carries the credibility of development and markingwhich involve independent external expertise as well as in-house expertis(Results from the Year 6 Religious Education Test for the first three yearsits implementation are consistent and positive. The Archdiocesan means fthe test are 68.1% (2001), 67.9% (2002 and including students fromArmidale diocese) and 70.0% (2003). The test was described by one


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Primary Principal as being most effective as a 'snapshot in time', an insightat a given time into the understanding of students in Religious Education.CEO staff with responsibility for the test speak of its value as a diagnostictool in identifYing areas for professional development for Primary teachers.One example given was of identifYing that many teachers were bringing avery literal approach to Scripture. This in turn has impacted the workavailable online for teachers in Scripture. There are some remaining issuesaround the impact of the Religious Education Test upon children fromlanguage backgrounds other than English. Conversation between key playerson this has commenced.For the senior years ofReligious Education, students in system schoolsundertake courses determined or approved by the NSW Board of Studies.Board-determined courses: Studies ofReligion I

Studies ofReligion IIBoard-endorsed course: Catholic StudiesResults in the Higher School Certificate for Studies ofReligion (I and II)bear further monitoring. There are considerable variations between Regionsin their results in the top bands for Studies ofReligion, and increasedattention should be given to identifYing the most useful benchmarks.Congregational schools are mandated to teach Religious Education by theArchbishop of Sydney. Students in these schools likewise study the Boarddetermined or Board-endorsed courses as above, but data for Congregationalschools in Studies ofReligion (I and II) are not included in the CEO, SydneyReport.The overall monitoring of the quality of the Religious Education curriculumand the religious identity of schools is further ensured through the SchoolsLeadership and Management cycle and the process of Educational Audit andSchool Review. This is supported by Advisers who work directly with classroom teachers as well as the Religious Education Co-ordinator in each school.The strength of the Religious Education in the Sydney Archdiocesan schoolsrests largely on the confidence and competence of the teachers of religion.The Panel commends the very serious commitment to the ongoingprofessionalleaming ofReligious Education teachers by all in the system.Since 1994 teachers ofReligious Education in Sydney Catholic systemicschools have been required to be, accredited. Requirements for accreditation

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were reviewed in 2003. Teachers undertaking studies to satisfy accreditationare assisted with financial support. In addition to these and to a substantialrange of online materials, there is a range ofAdviser support available atregional level for Religious Education Co-ordinators and classroom teachers.The model varies from Region to Region. There is a comprehensive andongoing program of support and professional development for ReligiousEducation Co-ordinators.The Vision which is promoted, the faith which is proclaimed and the valueswhich are taught are matched with a great congruence in the witness whichthe CEO, Sydney and its schools give in so many ways. The ExecutiveDirector leads the way in consistently living out a genuine pastoral care forall staff and students. One teacher reported that 'Catholic employers arebeing Christ to us'. The leadership in the system, both in the Central Officeand in Regional Offices, was praised for its genuine pastoral care forPrincipals, staff and students. Principals recognise the exemplary leadershipof Directors and Regional Consultants and Advisers in their professionalservice to those in schools. The extent to which those working at RegionalOffices and Principals both spoke of the Regional Offices pastoral care forstaff and their well-being was notable. Reference was also made to thedocument 'Workplace Realities in Catholic Schools' which is seen as clearlystating the Church's values on the dignity of the person and the richness oflife beyond work and employment. It was also very evident to the ReviewPanel that Principals and other staff in the school system hold each other ingenuine regard and look to each other's wellbeing.There are many wonderful examples ofwitness to their living out of theirfaith which are given by the CEO, Sydney, its leadership and staff.Commitment to social justice is indicated in many ways: for example, inendeavouring to support Sudanese students, outreach to the SolomonIslands, responding to a wide range of appeals, social justice programs andpartnerships, even some across the Archdiocese. There is a tension betweenthis desire to be of service and the constraints Principals reported relating tothe best provision for students with special needs, especially behaviouralneeds. Some instances were cited of such students being declined enrolmentin a school on the grounds that Principals believed that the school did nothave the resources to deal appropriately with their needs. It is stronglyrecommended that this tension be further examined, because it could be seento compromise schools in their reaching Qut to a particular group of studentswho experience high levels ofneed.


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The Panel connnends the interaction which exists between the Sydneysystemic schools and other Chnrch agencies within the Archdiocese, such asthe Litnrgical Office, Catholic Adult Education and the Confraternity ofCatholic Doctrine. The Panel encourages the CEO, Sydney to continue tocreate opportunities to strengthen these links across the local Chnrch and togive witness to the place of Catholic schools within the ArchdiocesanMission.In sunnnary, the CEO, Sydney is exemplary in its expression of its identitywithin the mission of the Sydney Catholic Chnrch. There is an abundance ofevidence to indicate that the CEO's leaders and staff are most diligent in theirpromotion of quality Religious Education, in their sponsoring of a Catholicculture and identity throughout the offices and schools, in their commitmentto the ongoing religious and spiritual development of their staff, and inChristian witness. CEO staff members are cogniscent of the very realchallenges facing religion in our times. The Panel enconrages them tocontinue their very positive initiatives to meet these challenges.

There is ample evidence that the CEO's Central and Regional Offices providesignificant support for teaching and learning, and regard quality teaching andlearning as being central to the development of the whole person and thework of the CEO, Sydney. This support is appreciated by Principals andteachers and is having an appreciable impact on educational outcomes forstudents. The Panel noted that almost 80% of Principals rated the support ofthe CEO, Sydney for teaching and learning as 'good', 'high' or 'very high'.The promotion and implementation of the cycle of strategic leadership andmanagement incorporating strategic five-year planning; annual developmentplanning; defining of roles; team planning; PPPR; and reporting both atsystem and school level have provided an invaluable framework to ensurethat the support for teaching and learning is focused.The PPPR process is of particular significance in the promotion and supportofquality teaching and learning. The process has the agreement of the lEU,and its implementation has been persistently pnrsued over a number of years.It is intended that PPPR will be finally implemented with all staff within twoyears. This is to be commended; but the Panel would reconnnend that the

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process should be kept under review, in consultation with the keystakeholders, to ensure that it retains its value.

The emphasis given by the CEO, Sydney to the notion of the Principal aseducational leader is commendable, but the Panel noted that in order forPrincipals to fulfil this expectation there needs to be realistic balance in theirresponsibilities between educational leadership and school management.The Panel is aware that this balance has been the subject of review fromtime to time and that 'Models of Principalship' are currently being explored.The Panel is of the view that this needs to be kept under review to ensurethat the notion of the Principal as educational leader remains realistic andachievable, and that Principals are given every support to actually visitclassrooms, know what teachers are achieving and lead the educationalprogram of schools as envisaged.The provision of support for teaching and learning encompasses a range ofstrategies. Advisory services are well established in both the Central andRegional Offices. These services are staffed by high quality people,working particularly in areas of designated priority and areas of greatestneed. The work of these staff members was impressive and Principalsexpressed their appreciation of the quality of their work. The Panel notedthe impressive work done by Regional Consultants, Advisers and EducationOfficers who were targeting particular subjects and schools and developingappropriate intervention strategies for improvement. The Panel wasparticularly impressed with this 'targeted intervention', but recognised thatthere are limits to such activities because of the large workload alreadyundertaken by these people.A number ofAdvisers emphasised the importance of their role not being oneof 'hawking materials' and this is supported. Nevertheless, the materialresources developed by a number ofAdvisers were regarded as being of aworld-class standard. The high-quality materials produced for the Creativeand Performing Arts, Literacy, and Religious Education were particularlygood examples.Some Advisers are being required to work outside of their particularexpertise, particularly in Secondary, but budgetary considerations preventeda more comprehensive subject-specific spread of advisory services. Thereare some advantages associated with some advisory services being 'generic'and not being segmented into individual subject areas, particularly when this


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arrangement is accompanied by the selection of promising Subject Coordinators to playa key role in the subject networking arrangements. It is,however, important that Secondary subjects, such as Science, and other areasidentified as a priority, should have an appropriate person identified. Overall,this mix of arrangements was regarded as very satisfactory, given budgetaryconstraints.Advisers are well supported by the Regional Consultants and Central Officestaff; and the latter playa particularly significant role in the linking of theCEO, Sydney to outside bodies such as the Board of Studies and providingsome cross-Regional informal co-ordination. Examples of the sharing acrossRegions of advisory support services were considered by the Panel to beparticularly valuable. Consideration should be given to strategies to ensurethat sharing and integration of support services across Regions is maximisedto benefit schools. Collaboration between Regional Advisers and CentralOffice staff should similarly seek to ensure that policies are always based onbest practice.The CEO, Sydney has provided a comprehensive and systematic program ofprofessional development at both Central and Regional levels. Principals andteachers expressed appreciation of both the quantity and quality of thisprofessional development. (See Section 4.) Principals expressedappreciation of the support provided by Advisers and Regional Consultants inthe development and presentation of professional development activities atschool level.The Literacy and Numeracy strategies developed by the CEO, Sydney havedetailed target setting, professional development, resource allocation andsystem processes. Schools were expected to develop similar strategies forLiteracy and Numeracy across all years. Significant efforts have been madeto ensure that strategies had a strong research base and that the suggestedapproaches used some of the best models from a number of sources. Overall,teachers were encouraged to use explicit and systematic approaches to reflectupon their practice and adopt action research methods to ensure that theywere meeting the needs of all students. These strategies are to be applauded.The support of the CEO, Sydney in providing particular Literacy supportmaterials and programs, such as Reading Recovery, was favourablycommented upon by Principals and by a number of parents, as were theprograms for English as a Second Language (ESL) students and NewArrivals.

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The setting of targets is a valuable component of the Literacy and Numeracystrategies for the Basic Skills Test and for English, Mathematics andScience, the School Certificate and selected subjects for the Higher SchoolCertificate. This approach has helped to ensure that resources have beenallocated appropriately, strategies have been varied to meet particular needsand, above all, the strategies have been focused upon student outcomes. ThePanel suggests that this focus on setting student outcome targets could wellbe extended to other areas to ensure that the main focus is always onoutcomes rather than processes.The improvement in Literacy and Numeracy and results in the PrimaryWriting component are commendable. There is no doubt that the concertedeffort related to the Literacy and Numeracy strategy has borne fruit.However, it is noted that, as yet, Literacy. performance has been strongerthan Numeracy and there is the perception among Principals that, whilst theNumeracy strategy has been successful to some extent, there is a need toreconsider the strategy to ensure that it continues as a priority with a similaramount of support. The Panel supports this view.The Panel scrutinised evidence of a gradual increase in performance ofschools in the School Certificate and Higher School Certificate. Whilstthere is some variability, the data is indicative of some commendable trends.Results in the Higher School Certificate indicated that schools generallyperformed well in the upper middle bands (Bands 4 and 5). There wererelatively few students in the lower bands. However, fewer than expectedstudents were achieving awards at the top Band 6. The best performancesoverall were in Legal Studies, Ancient History, Information Processes andTechnology, and in Software Design and Development. The poorest perfor-mances were in Physics and Chemistry. It is strongly recommended that theCEO gives priority to assisting schools to increase the numbers of students inBand 6, and that Physics and Chemistry be provided with additional support.The promotion of quality pedagogy has been the subject of attention inadvisory visits, Adviser demonstrations, Key Learning Area (KLA)networking, staff development days and the sharing of best practice fromschool to school. Activities relating to productive pedagogy, thedifferentiated curriculum, and the thinking curriculum are particularlycommended. The Panel is of the view that this promotion of generic bestpractice in teaching and learning across all KLAs should be given higherpriority in the future. This process might well begin with the development


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of statements ofbest practice in both teaching and learning. Thisdevelopment could involve a process of involvement and consultation withkey people and result in a document that might provide the basis of teacherself-reflection, faculty and school reviews, the sharing of best practice acrossschools, and the provision of professional development, particularly at schoollevel. Such a development would complement the planned study ofbestpractice in the teaching of subjects for the Higher School Certificate.The CEO, Syduey has provided support in a number of other areas to ensurethat student learning encompasses all areas of the curriculum. Support forVisual, Creative and Performing Arts and Primary Sport were particularlynoted. The work of the Catholic Schools Perfonning Arts (CaSPA) team andco-ordinators is widely appreciated across the Archdiocese.The CEO, Sydney has developed a comprehensive range of devices tomonitor performance and promote continuous improvement. Generally,Principals were very positive in their survey responses to the questionrelating to 'Performance Monitoring and Continuous Improvement', with84% rating the support received as 'good', 'high' or 'very high'. The CEO,Sydney has utilised the participation of schools in the Basic Skills Tests inYears 3 and 5 and the ELLA, SNAP, School Certificate and Higher SchoolCertificate in Secondary schools as the basis of the monitoring of studentperformance. Data from these test regimes is fed back to schools after beingextensively analysed at Central and Regional level. The CEO has committedsignificant resources to assist schools to meaningfully analyse the data and touse the data to set priorities, target particular areas of need, and complementother school-based criterion assessmentS. Similarly, the analysis of the dataat Regional and Central level is used to assist in the setting of priorities andthe targeting of particular schools for assistance.A feature of the data is the provision of trend information, and some valueadded measures. This extends from Years 3 to 5 Basic Skills Test results andYears 10 to 12 results from the School Certificate to Higher SchoolCertificate. At least one Region is pioneering value-added measures fromYear 5 to Years 7 and 8 and progressively then to Years 10 and 12. ThePanel is of the view that such approaches have significant potential andshould be progressively expanded across all Regions, at least to those schoolswhere Literacy and Numeracy levels at Year 7 are of concern. Anothervaluable, recent addition is the competitiveness versus learning gain graphsand analysis for the Higher School Certificate results.

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The CEO, Sydney also provides data relating to NESB and Indigenousstudents and for schools in similar socio-economic status (SES) bands. Thedata is provided with comparisons to State averages. Whilst accepting that itmight be difficult to obtain the data, the Panel suggests there would be meritin providing a comparison of the CEO, Sydney's test data with non-Catholicschools in the same geographical location. It is suggested that thispossibility should be explored.Overall, the provision of the analysis of data is very commendable as itprovides invaluable information for tracking performance over time and thetargeting of resources to bring about improvement. The data is also used toreport performance to parents through the school's Annual Report. ThePanel noted some tracking of students from Primary to Secondary, and thatcollaboration and co-operation between Primary a n ~ Secondary schools,occurs in some parts of the Archdiocese. However, this is very 'patchy' andthe Panel recommends that greater emphasis be given to promoting theimportance ofmonitoring the continuity of students' learning outcomesacross the Primary/Secondary transition.The Panel noted that there has been considerable emphasis given todeveloping teachers' skills in assessing student progress using criterionreferencing approaches. The Panel supports a continuation of thisdevelopment and of efforts to assist parents to interpret such information instudent reports.The CEO, Sydney has implemented a range of initiatives to support schoolsin their efforts to cater for students with diverse learning needs. Theseinitiatives have been implemented in the context of an increase in thenumber of students with disabilities - an increase from 1.75% of enrolmentsin 1992 to 4.2% in 2003 - and the number of students currently enrolledwith a background other than English in Secondary being 50% and inPrimary 53%. These students have benefited from the Literacy andNumeracy strategies and the New Arrivals Program. Results in Basic SkillsTests in Literacy, Numeracy and the Primary Writing Assessment bystudents with a language background other than English were commendable.Similarly, the Literacy and Numeracy achievements of indigenous students,as measured by the Basic Skills Tests, have indicated significant learninggams.Reading Recovery Programs have been well established in the Archdiocese


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for some time and have been gradually expanded. This program has receivedwarm endorsement from Principals, teachers and parents. The integration ofstudents with a range _of disabilities into regular classrooms has been afeature of the CEO's efforts to ensure provision for students with specialneeds. These efforts, ably guided by Advisers, have largely been successfuland the Panel acknowledges some wonderful work being done in this area.A discussion document has been developed relating to the education of giftedand talented students. Each Region has a number of strategies for gifted andtalented students. The Certificate in Gifted Education (and the mini version)are widely offered and a number of initiatives link the CEO, Sydney'ssupport to expertise at the University ofNew South Wales. Whilst some ofthese strategies are relatively new, others are more established. The Panelapplauds these initiatives, but is of the view that Gifted and Talentedprovisions should be given greater priority in the future.The Archdiocese has developed a comprehensive program ofVocationalEducation including Workplace Learning Programs, Sydney EnterpriseEducation Program, Business Industry Partnerships, the provision of a varietyofwork placement opportnnities, and a very active liaison with employersand TAFE. These programs provide a vital component of the comprehensivecurriculum provision to meet the needs of all students.Pastoral Care Co-ordinators have been actively supported by the CEO,Sydney to ensure that they are equipped to handle Drug and Road SafetyEducation as well as emerging issues, particnlarly Child Protection andcritical incidents. Parents, in meetings, have strongly endorsed the PastoralCare programs of the schools and there was general agreement from allgroups that this was one of the strongest features of the CEO, Sydney's work.The Panel recommends that there should be more systematic collection andmonitoring of data relating to suspension and expulsion of students as auseful indicator relating to Pastoral Care.A recent development has been the provision of initiatives relating to Boys'Education. These include the establishment of the Secondary and PrimaryBoys' Education Network, a K-12 Boys' Education Day, and a Boys'Education Newsletter. These initiatives are promising and should be continuedThe CEO, Sydney has consistently supported all efforts to identifY and targetunderachievers in both Primary and Secondary schools, and to provide

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particular Advisory support to schools in the development of strategies to liftthe performance of those students who have been underachieving. There isconsiderable evidence to indicate that there has been a great deal of successin these activities. Whilst applauding these successes, the Panel emphasisesthe importance of lifting the achievement of those students who should beachieving Band 6 in the Higher School Certificate.All Regions have implemented a variety of additional programs to cater forthe diverse needs of students, including: provision for students who are categorised as Autistic; the Restorative Justice Program; the Students at Risk (STAR) Counselling Program; the Healing Education Learning Progress (HELP) Behaviour

Management Program; construction of Individual Behaviour Management Plans for particularstudents; promotion of liaison with other professional groups working with

students with high support needs; professional Development programs focusing on speech and language

deficiencies, integration, learning difficulties, etc; utilisation of the Champagnat and Berne units for temporary placement of

students; the Sensory Impairment Program (SIP).The Panel applauds the conscientious efforts of many people to provide forstudents with a variety of needs. The Panel notes, however, that Principalsranked this area as second last in their ranking of areas of support from theCEO, Sydney. It also notes that in some aspects the provision of support isunequal across Regions. These issues lead the Panel to the conclusion that itis now timely for the CEO to review the support it currently provides forstudents with diverse needs and, in particular, for students with challengingbehaviour.The CEO, Sydney has made a commitment to utilise new technologies toexpand the learning opportunities of students. This is expressed in Outcome7.1: "Students and teachers learning effectively using Information


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Communications Technology (ICT) in media rich classrooms and otherlearnIng environments as indicated in the CEO, Sydney document'Technology in Teaching and Learning' and Board of Studies' syllabusdocuments. "Because of some major difficulties being experienced in this area, the CEOin July 2002 commissioned the IT Consultancy firm DanteTelecommunications Solutions to complete a review of ICT across theorganisation. As a result of that review, a detailed ICT Plan for the next threeyears was developed. The plan has subsequently encompassed these majoraspects: the deployment ofMyinternet as a school based intranet and learningmanagement system. Myinternet to replace SchoolsNet; CEO, Sydney infrastructure and bandwidth to migrate to AAPT in 2005; the tendering of bulk purchasing hardware for school and the CEO,

Sydney offices; the establishment of the CEO, Sydney Helpdesk and the trialling of the

provision of four Local Area Network (LAN) technicians over a two yearperiod; the replacement of Office Automation School Information System(OASIS) with School Administration System (SAS) 2000 to supportadministration, library and finance;

the development of the CEO, Sydney Web Portal to service a number ofonline provisions.

The CEO, Sydney has established a Central Office-based ICT team toimplement these new arrangements. This team, made up of three units - ICT,Curriculum, and Infrastructure and Helpdesk Support - has done a great dealin a short period of time to rectify the significant problems of the past. Theplanning and implementation of this group is commended for bringingimprovements to ICT in recent times. The piloting ofMyinternet, theauditing of stock, the rollout of replacement hardware and the professionaldevelopment of staff have been of the highest order.A number of challenges remain. I t is important that the dissatisfactionexpressed by a number of Principals in regard to the lack of technicalassistance be addressed. The four LAN technicians and the Helpdesk haveprovided part of the answer, but the CEO will need to continue to explore

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other possibilities. An important starting point to finding this remedy mightwell be for the CEO, Sydney, in consultation with Principals, to define theresponsibility of the school and the responsibility of the CEO for technicalsupport.The rollout and updating ofICT hardware will continue to be a challenge.The replacement of hardware as it becomes obsolete is a particular concernfor schools in the less-advantaged areas, and increased the CEO support ofsuch schools will need to be considered in this respect.The provision of leadership and strategic direction for the integration of ICTinto the teaching and learning process K-12 encompassing such things as thedevelopment of online projects, e-Iearning projects for students with specialneeds (eg gifted and talented), and the utilisation of CD-ROMS, willcontinue to be a challenge. The professional development of staff, includinginnovative approaches, online tutorials and within school activities, will alsoneed to be a challenge, as will access for all teachers so that technologybecomes a regular component of their resources.There is no doubt that ICT utilisation and support has been considered byPrincipals in this survey to be the area of least support. Comments byPrincipals in meetings have reinforced this view that the CEO, Sydney needsto provide better support in this area The Panel is of the view that whilstICT has been an area of some concern in the past, and will continue to be anarea of concern, much has been done to resolve the issues and some veryimpressive work is now being done. The Panel would expect that many ofthe expressed concerns of Principals will be addressed in a reasonable periodof time.In summary, the CEO, Sydney is to be congratulated on the overall qualityof the support it provides to schools to ensure quality teaching and learning.Whilst there is always more that can be done, budgets are not infinite. ThePanel is of the view that some very fine work has been done within theresources available and there is much to celebrate and to build upon inmeeting some important further challenges in the years ahead.

4. Human ResourcesThe Human Resources functions of the CEO, Sydney have been skilfullydeveloped to ensure that they reflect the overall Vision and Mission of the

Documents

Ceo External Review 2004